cherry



(No Model.)

F. F. CHERRY.

PLANTBR. 3 No. 341,452. PatentedMay 11, 1886.

A Attorney UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FELIX F. CHERRY, OF STONEWALL, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIG'NOR TO MARY F.CHERRY, OF SAME PLACE.

PLANTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 341,452, dated May 11,1888.

Application filed September 5, 1885. Serial No, 176,252. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FELIX F. CHERRY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Stonewall, in the county of Pamlico and State of NorthCarolina, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inPlanters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription. 4

This invention has for its object the production of a machine which, byVery simple and easily-made changes, may be adapted to plant corn,cotton, rice, field-peas, peanuts,

millet, broom-corn, and various other kinds of seeds or grains, and toplant either in hills or drills.

The invention consists in certain details of construction andcombinations of parts for effecting the object stated.

The invention is founded upon the machine form ng the subject-matter ofmy Letters Patent No. 309,928, dated December 30, 1884.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is aside elevation. F g. 2 s a top plan view on a larger scale. Flg. 3 1s avertical section of the hopper and its attached parts on a still largerscale. Fig. 4 1s a bottom plan view of the fore end of the machine. Fig.5 is a side elevation of the roller-shifting bearing to regulate thedepth of opening. Fig. 6 is a perspective View of an agitator for use indrilling, and Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section of one of the seed cupsor dies.

A is a rectangular frame of suitable construction, provided with handles13, and (l is a wheel or roller provided witha shaft, D, which isjournaled to rotate in blocks E, the latter being hung to swing in thearc of a circle upon pivots a in semicircular bracketbearlngs F, boltedto the frame A, so that by swinging said blocks upon their pivots theheight of the frame may be varied with relation to the earth, andconsequently the depth of furrow'regulated.

To the shaft D, next the wheel or roller 0, are rigidly affixed cranksG, to which are jointed rods H H, extending rearwardly and receiving aflat plate, I, which is supported by a lever, J, pivoted at K to theframe or handles. The plate I has its edge adjacent to the periphery ofthe roller, and serves as a scraper to i keep said roller clean. Bymeans of the lever J, rods H, and cranks G the roller may be swung uponthe bracketbearings F, for the purpose specified, and in so doing theproximity of the scraper to the roller is also, by means of the cranks,varied, to scrape more or less closely.

The moving parts of the machine are driven from the roller-shaft andinterposed gearing, so that by shifting the roller the motion may bestarted or stopped at pleasure. ing is shown in the drawings, L being adriving-pinion on the shaft D, and M a pinion on a shaft borne in abracket, N, on the frame, and driven by said pinion L, and transmittingits motion by suitable connections, as will pres ently appear. M

O is the hopper, of suitable shape, and preferably mounted upon theframe A, and having a bottom, P, made on the arc of a circle. The outletR of this bottom is provided with an opening, S, and said outlet is aplate of metal, a number of. which, having openings of different kinds,if desired, may be furnished with each machine. Said outlet haschamfered ends, as seen in Fig. 3, to adapt it to be dropped into placein the bottom I? of the hopper. The outlet is provided with a gate, T,which is moved over said outlet, to open and. close its opening more orless, by means of levers V, pivoted to the ends of the hopper, andhaving operating-handles readily accessible to the operator. Within thehopper and above the outlet, and conformed to and supported'by thebottom, is a semicircular feeder, b, provided with one or more openings,c, to receive seed cells or dies (1, the openings in which are madeoutwardly flaring. These cells are inserted in the feeder from below,and are provided with flanged and beveled edges (1, (see especially Fig.7,) to make a good joint with the feeder.

Variations in the distance or space between the grains or seeds asplanted may be governed by the number of cells-used, the greater thenumber of cells open the greater thefrequency of the feed, and hencewhen it is desired to plant the seeds far apart one or more of the cellswill be closed. This is effected by using solid or dummy cells, as at c,Fig. 3.

The feeder I) is removably held in the hop Such gearper by clamps f f,overlapping its ends, and secured to the ends of the hopper byset-screws g, as shown, or otherwise. The feeder is reciprocated in thehopper over the outlet and beneath the clampsff by arms h h, secured toa hub, h, which by set-screw h is made fast to rock-shaft, t, havingbearings in the sides of the hopper, and one end of this shaft,projecting outside of the hopper, has a crank, i, (see Figs. 1 and 2,)to which is attached the pitmanj, which extends rearwardly and issecured to a crank, 75, on the shaft of the pinion M, said pinion beingfast to its said shaft and imparting a rotary motion to its crank k,which in turn reciprocates the said pitman, and the latter in turn rocksthe shaft i, carrying the arms h. The arms hhin'theirmovementserve alsoto agitate the contents of the hopper The speed, and consequently therapidity of feed, may be regulated by changegears, a larger or smallerpinion being substituted for the pinion L to this .end. As the cells (Ipass over the opening S, they drop their contents into the earth.

The brush Z, secured over the feeder by an arm, in, attached to thehopper, insures the proper filling of the cells with seed. The making ofthe bottom of the hopper semicircular insures the gravitation of theseed to the point of discharge, and prevents clogging of the hopper.

W'hen seed is to be sewn in drills, a feeder having anarrow slit, as inmy patent referred to, is substituted-for that shown, and the arms 71are replaced by the agitator, Fig. 6, having staggered arms,as shown;but instead ofchanging feeders I may and prefer to simply place cups inall the feeder-openings, and open the outlet S to its fullest capacityby swinging back the gate T.

In the front of the frame is secured the J- shaped bracket it, providedwith the vertical slot 02, and to this bracket is adjustably secured theclod knocker or clearer 0, by the bolt 0, engaging the slot n, toprovide for the setting of the-knocker high or low, as the condition ofthe land may require. This knoeker (see Fig. 4) is -shaped, and has itslower edge, 0 bent back horizontally, as shown in Fig. 4, and moreclearly in the section at the right of said figure, so as to pre ventthe knocker from sinking into the earth.

The opener p is in general principle the same as in my patent referredto, but it is secured to the bracket 11 by an eye and pin 1), Fig. 3,and to the bottom of the hopper by plates and bolts 19*, Figs. 1 and 4.The opener has the prow p" and the wings p, forming a well to cover theseed from the wind and trash.

The scrapersr are reversely-curved blades, converging in the rear of theopener, (see Fig. 4,) and secured to the frame by arms T, which haveflattened springs loosely secured to the frame by pivot-bolts r", andthese scrapers are adjustable toward and from one another by bolts r,passed through slots 7, made in-the are of a circle in the flattenedends of said arms. The base of the knocker does not come clear up to theopener, and hence leaves room for loose earth next the opener which isuse ful to be gathered in by the covercrs to successfully cover all thegrain.

A hook, s, or other draft device, may be employed.

\Vhat I claim is I l. The combination, with the frame and plantingmechanism, of a wheel or roller for supporting the same, a shaft forsaid'wheel, blocks in which said shaft is borne, and semicircularbrackets in which said blocks are pivoted, and means to swing saidblocks to raise or lower the wheel or roller, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination, with the frame, of a wheel or roller, a shaft forthe same, bearingblocks for said shaft, and bearings on said frame inwhich the said blocks are pivoted to swing back and forth in the are ofa circle, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the frame, ofa roller or wheel secured theretoby swinging bearings, crank-arms on the shaft of said wheel or roller,and rods jointed to the said crank-arnis and connected to a lever formoving the wheel or roller, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with the frame and roller or wheel supported thereinupon swinging bearing-blocks, of rods extending rearwardly from theshaft of said roller and connected to a scraper-plate and a lever foropcrating the same, substantially as described.

5. The frame, the hopper having a feeder, the rock-shaft in said hopper,a crank on the same, and a pitman extending thence rearwardly, combinedwith the adjustable roller or wheel, a driving-pinion on its shaft, anda driven pinion and shaft, to which latter shaft the pitman is secured,substantially as described.

6. In a planter, the hopper provided with a concaveor semicircularbottom, P, having an outlet, 1%, and' a similarly-shaped feeder, I),provided with cells and arranged above said bottom and removably securedtherein by clamp-plates f f, substantially as described.

7. In a planter, the scrapers 1', provided with arms 1", having theflattened spring ends a loosely secured to the frame by pivot-bolts rand adjustable toward and from one another by slots and bolts r in theirrear ends, substantially as shown and described.

8. In a planter, the opener 1), having the prow p and wing p combinedwith the bracket n and hopper-bottom, to which it is bolted by the eyeand pin p and bolts and plates 12 substantially as shown and described.

9. In combination with the hopper of an ordinary cotton-seed planter ofthe type shown, a detachable seed-dropping device arranged andoperating, when in place in the hopper, to cover the discharge openingor outlet in the hopper-bottom and permit the discharge of the corn orother seed to be planted in hills IIO through a single exit-hole, andprovided with or feeder contrivance or device, composed of a a slidingfeeder arranged to operate substanslotted outlet, R, a cellularfeeder-slide, b, and tiallyin the manner set forth. the clamps f f, forholding the parts in place, 15 10. In combination with the slottedbottom the whole constructed and operating together 5 of the hopper andthe rock-shaft of a cotton- I substantially in the manner and for thepurseed planter, the detachable or removable poses hereinbefore setforth.

arms, substantially as shown and described, i In testimony whereof Ihave hereunto set adapted to drive or move the slide of a seed my handthis 11th day of August, A. D. 1885.

dropper or feeder arranged in connection FELIX F. CHERRY. 10 with saidslotted bottom, substantially as set Witnesses:

forth. FEs'rUs MILLER,

11. A detachable or removable seed dropper JAMES R. JEwELL.

